1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cable connector assembly, and particularly to a cable connector assembly used for high-speed transmission with low-profile.
2. Description of Related Art
There exists in the art an electrical connector known as a Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) connector which is generally used for disk drives and storage peripherals. Especially, the Serial ATA connectors according to the Serial ATA standard are featured in fewer electrical contacts than other conventional electrical connectors and are relatively tiny in configuration. Further, for in accordance with current miniature trend, Serial ATA connectors are improved as low profile type. Therefore, the dimensions including height, width, length and thickness are decreased. Usually, such a Serial ATA cable connector assembly comprises an insulative housing retaining a plurality of contacts therein, a spacer assembled to the housing and the contacts, a cable electrically connecting with tail portions of the contacts, and a cover enclosing junctions between the cable and the contacts, rear end of the insulative housing, and the spacer via over-mold manner. However, with the decrease in dimensions of all elements, the thickness of the cover which protects the electrical connection between the cable and the contacts and protects the cable from being pulled to be separated from the contacts is not thick enough to realize functions above.
Thus, an additional protective member is needed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,951,477 and 6,793,520 disclose such additional protective members. U.S. Pat. No. 6,951,477 adapts a carrier connecting with grounding contacts and bounding the outer periphery of the cable with grounding conductors soldered with the grounding contacts and signal contacts electrically connecting with signal conductors of the cable via IDC means. However, to achieve the electrical connection between the cable and the contacts, IDC and solder technologies are adapted at the same time which is complex to operate and time consuming. U.S. Pat. No. 6,793,520 discloses a cable clamp comprising a first cable clamper and a second cable clamper assembled to the outer periphery of a cable and assembled together via some latch means formed thereon. However, the first and second cable clampers have different structures from each other which increase manufacture difficulty and are relatively costly. In addition, there is no positioning means to indicate the assembly of the cable to the housing and contacts, and this is not helpful to industry atomization.
Hence, a cable connector assembly having an improved protective stiffener is desired.